Morning Bag Skate: WE FINALLY MADE IT, WELCOME BACK TO HOCKEY

I'm going to try my best to temper my excitement for the rest of the day but it's going to be really, really, really hard. The first day of the Blackhawks' season is finally here, and I may or may not spend the afternoon yelling "GO HAWKS!" at every person I walk by at the grocery store. This is what a long summer does to a person. So let's get through the news, and we'll have more on tonight's matchup against Dallas throughout the day.

**The mystery of the Hawks' cap situation has been resolved: turns out Arizona is paying part of David Rundblad's contract (SCH)

**Kris Versteeg will miss three weeks with his lower body injury (SCH)

**What does Jonathan Toews think of advanced stats in hockey? He's indifferent, basically. "I don't think you really need to look that deep, but I guess there are some ways you can find truths and patterns and things that maybe not so good teams repeat and make changers to that." (CSN Chicago)

**Missed the opening night action on Wednesday? Catch up with the SBN storystream (SB Nation)

**The Blue Jackets will be without Brandon Dubinsky for six weeks after he underwent surgery (Pro Hockey Talk)

**Tampa Bay placed former second-round pick Richard Panik on waivers. We'll see if he makes it through unclaimed. (TSN)

**Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger have joined the broadcast team for NBC's hockey coverage this season (NBC)

**Jarome Iginla joins Cody McLeod as the alternate captains behind Gabriel Landeskog in Colorado (NHL)

**No captain for the Sharks (CSN Bay Area)

**Sounds like Evgeni Malkin will be pretty much healthy to start the season (Penguins)

**The Maple Leafs have a giant deodorant stick on their Zamboni because sports loves #brands (Puck Daddy)

**Chris Pronger joining the NHL player safety team? Yeah that sounds like an idea with totally no downside, right? (Puck Daddy)

**Good move, Denver Post. (Puck Daddy)

**No Pavel Datysuk for Detroit in the season opener on Thursday (Red Wings)

**Jakub Voracek is confident he can make the leap to stardom in Philadelphia (CSN Philly)